raamcosta / compose-destinations

Annotation processing library for type-safe Jetpack Compose navigation with no boilerplate.

Compose Destinations

A KSP library that processes annotations and generates code that uses Official Jetpack Compose Navigation under the hood. It hides the complex, non-type-safe and boilerplate code you would have to write otherwise.
No need to learn a whole new framework to navigate - most APIs are either the same as with the Jetpack Components or inspired by them.

Main features 🧭

• Typesafe navigation arguments
• Simple but configurable navigation graphs setup
• Navigating back with a result in a simple and type-safe way
• Getting the navigation arguments from the SavedStateHandle (useful in ViewModels) and NavBackStackEntry in a type-safe way.
• Navigation animations
• Destination wrappers to allow reusing Compose logic on multiple screens
• Bottom sheet screens through integration with Accompanist Navigation-Material
• Easy deep linking to screens
• Wear OS support (since versions 1.x.30!)
• All you can do with Official Jetpack Compose Navigation but in a simpler safer way!

For a deeper look into all the features, check our documentation website.

Materials 📄

• Alex Styl's quick introduction videos Navigate using the Compose Destinations library
• Philipp Lackner's Youtube video Compose Navigation Just Got SO MUCH EASIER 😱
• Rafael Costa's blog post Compose Destinations: simpler and safer navigation in Compose with no compromises
• Yanneck Reiß's blog post Type Safe Navigation With Jetpack Compose Destinations
• Google Dev Expert Kenji Abe's blog post Navigation Composeを便利にしてくれるライブラリ
• aseem wangoo's blog post (and Youtube video inside): Using compose destinations
• Vincent Tsen post in Android Kotlin Weekly How to convert your Jetpack Compose navigation app to use Compose Destinations Library to get rid of boilerplate code?

Basic Usage 🧑‍💻

1. Annotate your screen Composables with @Destination:

@Destination
@Composable
fun ProfileScreen() { /*...*/ }

2. Add navigation arguments to the function declaration:

@Destination
@Composable
fun ProfileScreen(
   id: Int, // <-- required navigation argument
   groupName: String?, // <-- optional navigation argument
   isOwnUser: Boolean = false // <-- optional navigation argument
) { /*...*/ }

Parcelable, Serializable, Enum and classes annotated with @kotlinx.serialization.Serializable (as well as Arrays and ArrayLists of these) work out of the box! You can also make any other type a navigation argument type. Read about it here

Note

There is an alternative way to define the destination arguments in case you don't need to use them inside the Composable (as is likely the case when using ViewModel). Read more here.

3. Build the project

Or run ksp task (example: ./gradlew kspDebugKotlin), to generate all the Destinations. With the above annotated composable, a ProfileScreenDestination file would be generated (that we'll use in step 4).

4. Use the generated [ComposableName]Destination's invoke method to navigate to it.

It will have the correct typed arguments.

@RootNavGraph(start = true) // sets this as the start destination of the default nav graph
@Destination
@Composable
fun HomeScreen(
   navigator: DestinationsNavigator
   // OR navigator: NavController if you prefer, in which case you can use `navigate` extension function
) {
   /*...*/
   navigator.navigate(ProfileScreenDestination(id = 7, groupName = "Kotlin programmers"))
}

Note

DestinationsNavigator is a wrapper interface to NavController that if declared as a parameter, will be provided for free by the library. NavController can also be provided in the exact same way, but it ties your composables to a specific implementation which will make it harder to test and preview. Read more here

5. Finally, add the NavHost call:

DestinationsNavHost(navGraph = NavGraphs.root)

Note

NavGraphs is a generated file that describes your navigation graphs and their destinations. By default all destinations will belong to "root" (@RootNavGraph), but you can create your own nav graphs annotations to have certain screens in other navigation graphs.

This call adds all annotated Composable functions as destinations of the Navigation Host.

That's it! No need to worry about routes, NavType, bundles and strings. All that redundant and error-prone code gets generated for you.

Setup 🧩

Compose destinations is available via maven central.

1. Add the KSP plugin:

Note: The version you chose for the KSP plugin depends on the Kotlin version your project uses.
You can check https://github.com/google/ksp/releases for the list of KSP versions, then pick the last release that matches your Kotlin version. Example: If you're using 1.9.22 Kotlin version, then the last KSP version is 1.9.22-1.0.17.

groovy - build.gradle(:module-name)

plugins {
    //...
    id 'com.google.devtools.ksp' version '1.9.22-1.0.17' // Depends on your kotlin version
}

kotlin - build.gradle.kts(:module-name)

plugins {
    //...
    id("com.google.devtools.ksp") version "1.9.22-1.0.17" // Depends on your kotlin version
}

2. Add the dependencies:

Compose Destinations has multiple active versions. The higher one uses the latest versions for Compose and Accompanist, while the others use only stable versions. Choose the one that matches your Compose version, considering this table:

Compose 1.1 (1.1.x)
Compose 1.2 (1.2.x)
Compose 1.3 (1.3.x)
Compose 1.4 (1.4.x)
Compose 1.5 (1.5.x)
Compose 1.6 (1.6.x)	OR
Compose 1.7 (1.7.x)	OR

Warning

If you choose a version that uses a higher version of Compose than the one you're setting for your app, gradle will upgrade your Compose version via transitive dependency.

groovy - build.gradle(:module-name)

implementation 'io.github.raamcosta.compose-destinations:core:<version>'
ksp 'io.github.raamcosta.compose-destinations:ksp:<version>'

kotlin - build.gradle.kts(:module-name)

implementation("io.github.raamcosta.compose-destinations:core:<version>")
ksp("io.github.raamcosta.compose-destinations:ksp:<version>")

Important

If you want to use bottom sheet screens, replace above core dependency with:
implementation 'io.github.raamcosta.compose-destinations:animations-core:<version>'
this will use Accompanist Navigation-Material internally.
Read more about the next steps to configure these features here

Important

If you want to use Compose Destinations in a Wear OS app, replace above core dependency with:
implementation 'io.github.raamcosta.compose-destinations:wear-core:<version>'
this will use Wear Compose Navigation internally.
Read more about the next steps to configure these features here

Community 💬

Please join the community at Kotlin slack channel: #compose-destinations
Ask questions, suggest improvements, or anything else related to the library.

If you like the library, consider starring and sharing it with your colleagues.